The Magic Launcher makes loading mods and switching between various versions of Minecraft easier than ever. Have you ever downloaded one of the minecraft snapshots but later wanted to play a map designed for an earlier release? With the Magic Launcher you can simply choose which .jar file to use. Handy!

In addition to that you can also load various minecraft mods WITHOUT altering your minecraft.jar file. The launcher also automatically checks for conflicts amongst your mods and checkes requirements for various mods that needs things like ModLoader to work. That means no guessing why your latest mod isn’t working.

Long story short, this is the launcher Mojang have been saying they were going to make for over a year now and still haven’t made. It’s clean, it’s multifunctional and it allows you much greater control over your minecraft experience each and every time you launch the game without having to get into the bin and .jar files and mess around every time you want to turn a mod off or on.

But wait, there’s more. Really. The Magic Launcher also allows you to change your java settings right in the launcher, with changeable java limits and custom parameters. Brilliant. All these options are available via the tabs at the top of the launcher which expand the launch interface and increase functionality exponentially.

Created by the Minecraft Middle-Earth Adventure Team, this is aserious minecraft adventure and survival map. Serious business. It’s such serious business that it comes with an entirely separate (hand drawn, LOTR style) map and a texture pack. It’s also a huge download. If you’re sick of little tiny minecraft survival maps with a few blocks of dirt to play with, then this is a map you must play.

What can you expect? You can expect to be blown away by the scale of the build for starters. They’ve truly created a whole world for you to inhabit. I’d advise using the texture pack because it adds a whole level of atmosphere to the map that doesn’t exist – and although it is 16x, it’s also impressively detailed and styled in a way that will blow your mind.

All this amazingness comes with some restrictions. Because they’ve spent many months creating this epic map, they don’t want you messing it up with your ideas. So you’re not allowed to build or even place blocks. Anywhere. (Aside from beds, they’ll let you have a bed, as long as you seem sufficiently grateful.) You’re not allowed to craft anything besides armor and swords. If you insist on going off trail, the creators warn you that you’ll soon be lost and miserable.

Is there a story? Yes, there’s a story. Tolkein fans can’t resist stories. Long stories. Stories that might have some sophorific effects. This isn’t a map for anyone who wants a quick self directed playthrough. This is a map for people who want to get deep into something that has been created for them by a team of people who clearly take some serious pride in what they do.

This map is unique in the fact that the block it is primarily made out of (snow) yeilds no useful blocks when destroyed. If you punch a snow block, you get nothing. If you craft a spade, you get snowballs. Snowballs are of very limited use in a survival situation. Best and worst case scenario combined, you end up annoying agressive mobs. Maybe you’ll push them off the side of the map, or maybe you’ll accidentally hurt an Enderman and bring down his or her teleportational wrath.

Obviously the snowman is the first thing you’ll cannabalize. Unfortunately a few blocks of wood and a bright orange nose don’t go all that far on the snowy wastes. You do start with a few additional resources, there are three blocks of grass, a single pine tree, and a bone. Not a whole lot admittedly, but better than a slap in the face. If you do destroy the snowman completely, you’ll automatically fail objective #6: make a hat for the snowman out of iron blocks. Because snazzy headwear is more important than not perishing on the snowy wastes.

This has all the makings of a classic with the limited resources, void below and far off locations with important resources stocked upon them.

1.2.2 is out now! Here’s everything you need to know about this version of the game we all know and love:

New Hostile Behavior

Hostile mobs that would burn in the sun now look for shade! That means the forests and overhangs might be teaming with skeletons and zombies long after the sun has risen. Zombies have new pathfinding technology that enables them to avoid obstacles to come and get you. Scary. Zombies can also break wooden doors, so be careful about your choice of door construction material.

Jungle biomes with massive towering trees covered in climbable vines have been added to the game.

‘Fire charges’ allow you to shoot fire out of dispensers, creating canons of a kind. They require Blaze Powder, Coal or Charcoal and Gunpowder to craft.

How To Craft Fire Charges:

New Circle Stone Bricks

These new stone bricks have a Mayan style square patterning and will look great in Jungle Biome builds.

How To Craft Circle Stone Bricks: Not possible at the current time, only available in creative.

Cats scare creepers away! A cat can be created by taming a wild ocelot. Wild ocelots should be tamed otherwise they will hunt and kill your precious chickens.

How To Tame A Wild Ocelot:

Hold out some fish and stand very, very still. The ocelot will approach you, snatch the fish from your hand and become a kitty. Who is a kitty! \o/

Iron Golems are protective mobs for villages which can be crafted or spawn naturally with more than fifteen villagers. They can only be killed with diamond and drop roses and iron ingots when slain.

They sky is still the limit, but the limit is massively increased. You can now build way above cloud level up to 256 blocks.

Redstone Lamps

Crafted from redstone dust and a glowstone block, redstone lamps can be turned on and off with the power of redstone. Place one glow stone block in the middle of a crafting grid and place redstone dust at the N, S, E and W directions around it like so: